l8o NATIV1-: AGRICULTURE. 



In the course of our investigation let us first turn aside 

 for a brief consideration of the question of the communications 

 in relation to the agriculture of the Territory. 



I. Communications. 



Naturally the communications of any country and its 

 geographical ]josition affect very closely the commerce - and 

 agriculture. Where communications by rail and road are good 

 we may expect the flow of exports and imports to increase 

 steadily, demand reacting upon supply, and supply creating 

 demand ; and conversely, where there are few railroads and 

 main roads, and little coming and going, there we would expect 

 a sluggish, heavily moving, trade of small relative dimensions. 



Where the transport is dependent upon oxen, anything in 

 the nature of cattle disease on a large scale, or badly made, 

 badly rei)aired roads, or even a mild drought which affects the 

 pasturage along the road, increases the difficulties already pre- 

 sented by the great distances, and by causing a rise in })rices, 

 limits the exports and imports, and jirevents the development 

 of trade. 



In some lands canals have been used with great success 

 for the transport of goods from place to place, but in the 

 Transkei no voice has yet been heard urging the building of 

 canals. Practical difficulties, such as the conformation of the 

 land and the supply of water, are very great. The future may 

 yet prove that they are not too great. But canals were first 

 built where the conditions were most suitable, and at a time 

 when the motor had not as yet emerged from the visions of the 

 inventor. It seems that the usefulness of the motor as a vehicle 

 of transport is not yet realised, and that we may look forward 

 to develo])ments that will revolutionise our present ideas on the 

 subject. In the census returns of iqii it was gravely recorded 

 that there were three motors in the Territories. I have been 

 told 1)>' the pioneer who first introduced the motor into the 

 Transkei that his car was fitted with solid tyres. To-day, nearly 

 every village has at least one garage, and mam of the larger 

 places have at least two and three garages. Cape carts and 

 other horse-drawn vehicles are almost obsolete. It is surprising 

 how many old colonists now regard the orthodox six miles an 

 hour in their cart as a speed impossibly slow, and have betaken 

 themselves to the more expensive but speedier motor. 



In this motor invasion of the Transkei we see, and foresee, 

 an expansion of trade, and an all-round advancement of first 

 importance ; for the Transkei can never go back to the days 

 when all comings and goings from the centre and the west 

 included of necessity the formidable and even dangerous post- 

 cart journey of some 200 miles to the railway at Kei Road. 



Already in the south-west the railway has been constructed 

 across the Kei River, and has, in fact, penetrated to the Bashee. 



